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Using Social Media and Other Electronic Tools in Collaboration

The tremendous growth in the use of social-media services such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter by the general population is reflected in the working world. Although few of the social-media tools were created for use in that context, most of them are used by professionals as business tools.

With each passing year, more professionals are using social media in the workplace. A 2012 survey by the human-resources consulting company SilkRoad found that almost three-quarters of employees surveyed use their own mobile devices in the workplace every day to connect with co-workers and customers, to share work-related information, to collaborate, and to spark new ideas. The three most popular services were Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, each used by more than half of those surveyed. By contrast, company-sponsored tools, such as intranets, were used by less than one-fifth of respondents. Email is still the most popular communication tool, used by more than 80 percent of respondents; no other company-sponsored tool was used by even 50 percent of respondents (SilkRoad, 2013).

Professionals use many types of electronic tools to exchange information and ideas as they collaborate. The following discussion highlights the major technologies that enable collaboration: word-processing tools, messaging technologies, videoconferencing, wikis and shared document workspaces, and virtual worlds.

WORD-PROCESSING TOOLS

Most word processors offer three powerful features that you will find useful in collaborative work:

MESSAGING TECHNOLOGIES

Two messaging technologies have been around for decades: instant messaging and email. Instant messaging (IM) is real-time, text-based communication between two or more people. In the working world, IM enables people in different locations to communicate textual information at the same time. Email is an asynchronous medium for sending brief textual messages and for transferring files such as documents, spreadsheets, images, and videos.

For more about writing email, see Ch. 14.

In the last decade, several new messaging technologies have been introduced that are well-suited for use on mobile devices such as phones. Of these, the two most popular are text messaging and microblogging.

Text messaging enables people to use mobile devices to send messages that can include text, audio, images, and video. Texting is the fastest-growing technology for exchanging messages electronically because most people keep their phones nearby. Organizations use text messaging for such purposes as sending a quick update or alerting people that an item has been delivered or a task completed. On your campus, the administration might use a texting system to alert people about a campus emergency.

Microblogging is a way of sending very brief textual messages to your personal network. You probably use the world’s most popular microblog, Twitter, which now has more than half a billion users. Although some organizations use Twitter, many use Twitter-like microblogs such as Yammer, which includes a search function and other features and which can be administered from within an organization.

VIDEOCONFERENCING

Videoconferencing technology allows two or more people at different locations to simultaneously see and hear one another as well as exchange documents, share data on computer displays, and use electronic whiteboards. Systems such as Skype are simple and inexpensive, requiring only a Webcam and some free software. However, there are also large, dedicated systems that require extensive electronics, including cameras, servers, and a fiber-optic network or high-speed telephone lines.

WIKIS AND SHARED DOCUMENT WORKSPACES

Ten years ago, people would collaborate on a document by using email to send it from one person to another. One person would write or assemble the document and then send it to another person, who would revise it and send it along to the next person, and so forth. Although the process was effective, it was inefficient: only one person could work on the document at any given moment. Today, two new technologies—wikis and shared document workspaces—make collaborating on a document much simpler and more convenient.

A wiki is a web-based document that authorized users can write and edit. The best-known wiki is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that contains some four million articles written and edited by people around the world. In the working world, people use software such as Jive and Socialtext to host wikis used for creating many kinds of documents, such as instructions, manuals, lists of frequently asked questions, and policy documents. For instance, many organizations create their policies on using social media by setting up wikis and inviting employees to write and edit what others have written. The concept is that a wiki draws on the expertise and insights of people throughout the organization and, sometimes, outside the organization. Figure 4.6 shows a portion of a wiki.

This portion of a screen from wikiHow shows an excerpt from an article about how to add an HP printer to a wireless network. Users can click on the Edit tab or Edit buttons to edit the article and on the Discuss tab to post questions and answers.

A shared document workspace makes it convenient for a team of users to edit a file, such as a Prezi or PowerPoint slide set or a Word document. A shared document workspace such as Microsoft SharePoint or Google Drive archives all the revisions made by each of the team members, so that the team can create a single document that incorporates selected revisions. Some shared document workspaces enable a user to download the document, revise it on his or her computer, and then upload it again. This feature is extremely convenient because the user does not need to be connected to the Internet to work on the document.

VIRTUAL WORLDS

Organizations are using virtual worlds, such as Second Life, to conduct meetings and conferences. Participants create avatars and visit different locations in the virtual world to view displays, watch product demonstrations, hold meetings, participate in job interviews, and talk with others. Many people think that entering a three-dimensional virtual world, in which you can talk with others through a headset connected to a computer, creates a more realistic experience than merely visiting a website, watching a video, or talking on the phone. Companies such as IBM, Cisco, and Intel use virtual worlds such as Second Life and Open Sim for day-to-day activities and special events. Holding a conference for 200 employees on Second Life saved IBM some $320,000 in transportation, food, and lodging expenses (Martin, 2012). Figure 4.7 shows how one company uses a virtual world to display a product.

Avatars of prospective customers are examining a model created by a design firm. The avatars can walk around and view the model from any perspective. The design firm even has full-scale models of houses. Avatars can enter a house, examine the interior, and then sit down in a virtual room with the firm’s representatives to discuss the design. The firm can change the design in real time in response to customers’ questions and suggestions

Although this section has discussed various collaboration tools as separate technologies, software companies are bundling programs in commercial products such as IBM Sametime, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Microsoft Lync, which are suites of voice, data, and video services. These services usually share four characteristics: